Copyright Š 2012 by Ira P. Boone, Maria Company All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, photocopying, mechanical, recording or otherwise, without the prior permission of the copyright owner. ISBN-10: 1468191837 ISBN-13: 978-1468191837 Published by Maria Company Printed in the United States of America Please send inquiries to: mariacompany@rocketmail.com http://englishfortheeagerlearners.blogspot.com/
Contents
Table of Contents Lesson 1
Nouns and Adjectives ......................... P.1 - P.17
Lesson 2
Verbs, Suffixes .................................. P.18 - P.29
Lesson 3
Sentences and Phrases ....................... P.30 - P.41
Lesson 4
Adverbs ............................................ P.42 - P.54
Lesson 5
Prepositional Phrases ........................ P.55 - P.65
Lesson 6
Pronouns .......................................... P.66 - P.75
Lesson 7
Passive Voice ..................................... P.76 - P.88
Lesson 8
Gerunds and Noun Phrases (Infinitives) P.89 - P.99
Lesson 9
Complements ................................. P.100 - P.111
Lesson 10 Clauses, Sentences, and Coordinating Conjunctions ... P.112 - P.123 Lesson 11 Subordinating Conjunctions,, Adverb Clauses, Subject-verb Agreement (1) ......... P.124 - P.136 Lesson 12 Adjective Clauses, Subject-verb Agreement (2) ....... P.137 - P.149 Lesson 13 Noun Clauses, Tenses and Time ... P.150 - P.160 Lesson 14 Tenses - Past Events .................... P.161 - P.175 iii
Contents
Lesson 15 Past Progressive Tense .................. P.176 - P.187 Lesson 16 Future Time ................................. P.188 - P.201 Lesson 17 Conditional Sentences .................... P.202 - P.214 Lesson 18 Modals and Auxiliary Verbs ......... P.215 - P.227 Lesson 19 Negation ........................................ P.228 - P.239 Lesson 20 Punctuation ................................... P.240 - P.254 Lesson 21 Articles .......................................... P.255 - P.266 Lesson 22 Direct and Indirect Speech ............ P.267 - P.278 Lesson 23 Verbless Clauses, Comment Clauses / Phrases, Absolute Phrases .......................... P.279 - P.292 Lesson 24 Inversions ..................................... P.293 - P.304 Lesson 25 Contractions and Omissions ........ P.305 - P.320 Prefixes
..................................................................... P.321
Summary .......................................................... P.322 - P.324 Answers
......................................................... P.325 - P.346
Index
......................................................... P.347 - P.350 iv
Lesson 1
Lesson 1
Nouns and Adjectives der ReminPlease don't get deceived by the simple appearance of Lesson One. In fact, it lays the sound foundations of all upcoming lessons and is often referred to later on when your studying gets stuck.
Nouns A NOUN is the NAME of anything. 1. John kicked the football through the goal. (goal - a wooden frame) 2. The result was one goal to nil. (goal - a point) 3. His team won a narrow victory. 4. His wish came true. 5. John got excited and drank up a can of beer.
1
When we WRITE, a noun has to be decided first. a. b. c. d.
We put a noun
before after after after
a verb. a verb. a preposition. a 'be'.
n.
v.
- John kicked v. n. - kicked the football prep. n. - through the goal v. n. - was one goal
1
Lesson 1 2
3
When we READ, a verb or preposition should catch our eyes first. Then a noun comes next. a.
Before any verb we can find a subject noun - John kicked.
b.
After a verb we can find an object noun - kicked the football.
c.
After a preposition we can find an object noun - through the goal.
d.
After a ‘be’ we can find a complement noun - was one goal. Now turn our thoughts the other way round. Any words or a group of words will be taken as nouns when they are found in these four positions: a. Before a verb. b. After a transitive verb. c. After a preposition. d. After a ‘be’. This important concept will help us understand the formation of noun phrases, gerunds (pages 89 - 91) and even noun clauses (pages 150, 155, 237, 310, 312, 324).
Kinds of Nouns: 1.
2
2.
Lesson 1
1. Proper Noun
A name for a special person, place or company, such as John, Paris, IBM, etc.
Things that we can see 2. Common Nouns and touch, such as a. Concrete Noun book, table, (countable)
b. Collective Noun (countable)
c. Abstract Noun (uncountable)
d. Mass Noun
(uncountable)
cup, bottle, car, house, etc.
A number or collection that we treat as a whole, such as family, mob, flock, army, fleet, etc. Something that we can‛t touch or see but only feel, such as happiness, success, bravery, energy, wisdom, honesty, etc.
Things that don‛t have separate units, such as wood, water, gold, cotton, homework, money, advice, travel, weather, jewelry, news, etc. In ‘two pieces of gold‛, we count ‘pieces‛.
:
Note
A common noun is the name used for any one of a class, such as ‘book’ (concrete), ‘family’ (collective), ‘happiness’ (abstract) and ‘copper’ (mass). It is contrasted with a proper noun, which is used for a special person or place.
3
Lesson 1 A.
Please put the underlined nouns of the following passage in the boxes below.
w
o d a h S s i H d n The Dog a
f ith a piece o w e g id r b a ing w dog, is cross ee his shado s o t s n e p p Lucky, a little a eh outh when h shadow to be n w o is h s e meat in his m k ta ts below. He mis . Now he wan t a e m f o e in the water c pie e he with a bigger atch it. Whil n s o t s another dog ie r t the g’s meat and th drops into u o m is h the other do in t ucky piece of mea ever. Sadly, L r o f s s e does so, the n k r a appears in d ands. water and dis with empty h y il m a f is h join dy.) goes back to you are gree if g in h t y r e e ev (You may los
Proper
4
Concrete
Collective
Abstract
Mass
Lesson 1
Why do we classify a noun? From the kind of noun we can get: (1) its exact meaning, (2) its countable or uncountable nature. This nature will guide us to the correct uses of: (3) articles (a, an, the), (4) verb forms (singular / plural) and (5) adjectives of quantity.
(1) We come to understand the meaning of a noun according to its type. My cat Beauty does not like fish. (proper noun) Mary is still a beauty in her middle age. (concrete noun) Everybody admires her beauty. (abstract noun)
(2) Countable or uncountable nature of a noun carries a different meaning.
Beer
[U] an alcoholic drink (mass noun – uncountable) Beer is sold here.
[C] a bottle, can or glass of beer (concrete noun – countable) Give us two beers, please. (=two bottles, two cans or two glasses)
(3) Countable concrete and collective nouns take articles (a, an, the); uncountable mass and abstract nouns don’t. concrete n.
proper n.
collective n.
In a bar the attendants were serving a group of tourists from an India town.
mass n.
abstract n.
Beer brings temporary pleasure to drinkers. (no articles)
(4) Some nouns in singular number take a singular verb under one meaning, and in plural number take a plural verb for another meaning. Singular
Plural
FORCE
- strength
FORCES
- army
MANNER
- method of doing things
MANNERS
- politeness
PAPER
- sheet
PAPERS
- documents
RETURN
- coming back
RETURNS
- profits
WATER
- liquid
WATERS
- an area of water
The return of the company’s former CEO was good news to the staff. The returns on the new investment of the company were encouraging.
(5) Some adjectives of quantity such as ‘many’ and ‘few’ are used to qualify countable nouns, while ‘much’ and ‘little’ to describe uncountable nouns. mass n.
Much beer has been sold during holidays.
concrete n.
At the close of business hours, only a few beers were left unsold.
5
Lesson 1
! e m a me! a n n r u o r y w Kneo ou y ! me! m a n w r u o o y a Kn ow your n
Know
First name Christian name
Middle name
Last Lastname name
Wilson WALKER
Reagan BUSH
Middle name
GEORGE Ronald
Surname Surname
First name Christian name
Familyname name Family
Forename Forename (Given Name)
(Given Name)
We usually write: Ronald W. Reagan or Ronald Reagan
Barack Hussein Obama A noun is the name of a person or a thing. Who can give me a noun? First boy: A cow. Teacher: Very good. Another noun?! Second boy: Another cow!
Teacher:
6
Lesson 1
Nouns: singular and plural Nouns that refer to “only one” are singular. Nouns that refer to “more than one” are plural.
Regular
Singular book horse cat
Plural books horses cats
Nouns that end in a “hissing” sound (-sh,-ch,-s,-x,-z)
dish bench box buzz ass glass inch
dishes benches boxes buzzes asses glasses inches
Nouns that end in -o
potato tomato echo
potatoes tomatoes echoes
Nouns that end in -f or -fe
life knife loaf shelf thief dwarf scarf wharf
Nouns that end in -y
duty army lady city fly body
duties armies ladies cities flies bodies
man tooth goose child mouse sheep ox German
men teeth geese children mice sheep oxen Germans
Nouns that don’t follow any of these rules
lives knives loaves shelves thieves dwarfs/ dwarves scarfs/ scarves wharfs/ wharves
Exceptions
stomachs monarchs (‘ch’ pronounced as ‘k’)
photos pianos casinos hippos
proofs beliefs chiefs
keys days valleys monkeys
(A vowel before ‘y’)
7
Lesson 1 The following nouns are used ONLY in the singular: News / Information Aerobics Physics Garbage / Trash Equipment Baggage / Luggage Furniture
(No news is good news.) (Aerobics is a form of exercise.) (Physics is a science subject.) (Garbage is collected on Wednesdays in this town.) (Our office equipment is said to be up-to-date.) (Too much baggage / luggage is not allowed on the plane.) (The furniture of the home suits the style of the house.)
The following nouns are used ONLY in the plural: (My sister bought a packet of sweets to suck on her way to school.) (It was thanks to my uncle that I got the job.) (Some people wanted fame, while others were crazy about riches.) (Our company supplies honest goods at honest prices.) (Last night the whole city was entertained with fireworks.) (The little shop pays very low wages per week.) (The remains of yesterday’s lunch were still seen lying on the table.)
Sweets Thanks Riches Goods Fireworks Wages Remains
Some nouns in certain expressions must be in plural number:
exchange seats; shake hands; make friends with; take turns; be friends with E.g. We may change trains at the next station. (NOT ‘train’)
Singular
Plural
Examples
cloth (C) clothing (U)
cloths
a yard of cloth an item of clothing a suit of clothes
clothes (C)
1. In winter people wear heavy clothing like hats, scarves, boots, and overcoats. 2. Many cloths of high quality are used for making fashionable and expensive clothes. Some Final Words on Nouns at this early stage: 1. A noun has first to be classified as countable (concrete and collective) or uncountable (abstract and mass). 2. Countable nouns require articles (a, an, the); uncountable nouns don’t. 3. Countable nouns take singular / plural verbs; uncountable nouns only singular. tr. v. n. prep. n. 4. Before a noun we find a transitive verb / preposition, e.g. ... show love, ... in love. After a noun we find a transitive / intransitive verb. E.g. Birds eat worms. Birds fly. Please refer to Lesson 2.
8
n.
tr. v.
n.
int. v.
Lesson 1
• An adjective adds information to a noun. • We say that the adjective qualifies the noun. • Usually an adjective goes before a noun or comes after a linking verb. (Please see page 19.)
Any word that adds information to a noun is an adjective.
adjective noun The adjective qualifies the noun.
Adjectives are classified in order to make a neat stacking (arrangement) for a smooth, natural description of a noun. (Please see page 12.)
1. Demonstrative Adjectives
(this, that, these, those, the, a(n), etc.)
These adjectives point out people, things, etc. This and these That and those This and that These and those The
refer to things close to the speaker. point at things less close to the speaker. go with singular nouns. go with plural nouns. goes with both singular and plural nouns.
This house is old. (singular) That house is old. (singular) These houses are new. (plural) Those houses are new. (plural) The school is open. (singular) The children are playing. (plural)
This house
9
Lesson 1 2. The Possessive (noun in the possessive form used as an adjective) This kind of adjectives shows ownership. That is John’s car. → shows ownership or possession. John’s John’s car = The car that belongs to John. The Possessive answers the question, 'Whose?' Whose car? John's.
Formation of the Possessive: 1. The Possessive of a noun whether singular or plural is formed by adding ’s to the noun:
the boy’s book; the king’s crown; the family’s income; men’s club; children’s school; people’s leader 2.
10
When a noun ends in s, the Possessive is formed by adding an apostrophe (’) after the s: the boys’ school; the students’ teacher
Lesson 1 3. Adjectives of Quantity some money enough food no sense many days
much patience all his wealth whole amount each boy
some money
These adjectives answer the question: How much or how many?
Note:
‘Many’ goes with countable nouns. (concrete and collective nouns) ‘Much’ goes with uncountable nouns. (abstract and mass nouns)
4. Adjectives of Quality (opinion, size/shape/age, color, proper adjectives) i
i
ii
iii
iv
iv
v
i
vi
ii
iii
iv
a nice man
an old car
a beautiful big round old table
a large city
a blue shirt
a black Japanese car
a square table
the English language
ii
iii
v
vi
v
vi
thin man
These adjectives answer the question: Of what kind?
Note:
Adjectives of opinion include beautiful, ugly, nice, bad, dirty, good ... .
11
Lesson 1
N QUALIFIES ANOTH U O N A NOEURN NOUN A noun can be used as an adjective to qualify another noun in order to show the Function or Element of the second noun.
Function: n.
n.
A beauty salon n. adj. A beautiful salon n.
(A salon that provides beauty services) (A salon that looks beautiful) n.
An information center n. adj. An informative talk
(A center that provides information) (A talk that gives people helpful ideas)
Element: n.
n.
A gold chain adj. n. Golden hair n.
(A chain that has the element of gold) (Hair that has bright yellow color)
n.
A silk suit adj. n. A silky voice
(A suit that is made of silk) (A gentle voice that is like soft silk)
Word order of the adjectives opinion
size
shape
age
color
proper adj.
The chairman’s two beautiful large round old brown Indian teak demonstrative possessive
(1 )
12
(2)
of quantity
(3)
of quality
(4 )
tables.
noun used as adj. to show ‘element’
Lesson 1
Collocation (matching of different parts of speech) A noun and an adjective are close partners. An adjective can qualify a few nouns, and, likewise, a noun can be qualified by a few adjectives.
Adjectives
Nouns
female vital (= chief)
{ {
charm intuition (= feeling)
a ... dog
a ... officer a ... fig-tree a ... role
a ... game
a ... person
clues importance
Adjectives
Nouns all-round
secondary full-time adult consumer
{
education 13
Lesson 1 a rare
a new the human
an extinct an endangered
{
species
(singular and plural)
The secret of writing good English lies in a good match between nouns and adjectives. ONLY through extensive reading can a learner acquire such a kind of valuable knowledge.
B.
5
10
14
Please underline all the adjectives in this passage.
Janet’s family had a big, old house with a beautiful garden, a lot of flowers and many old trees. One morning, Janet came in from the garden. She was a tall, fat woman, thirty years old. It was the hottest day of the year, but she wore a warm, brown skirt and yellow shirt. She went into the kitchen to get a refreshing drink of cold water. Just then the back door opened. And her mother came in. Her mother Molly was a tall, dark woman with gray hair. A black and white dog came into the kitchen after her and ran across to her. She sat down, put her hands on its head and said to Janet, “I usually did the same to you when you as a kid were having a sad and depressed look.”
Lesson 1
Comparison of Adjectives Most adjectives have the positive degree, the comparative degree followed by ‘than’ to compare 2 things, and the superlative degree preceded by ‘the’ to compare more than 2 things. All one-syllable adjectives follow the -er / -est pattern. Positive tall quick old
Comparative taller quicker older/elder
Superlative tallest quickest oldest/eldest
If the vowel of the positive is short, the last consonant is doubled. big red wet
bigger redder wetter
biggest reddest wettest
If the positive ends in -e, only -r and -st are added. brave cute wide
braver cuter wider
bravest cutest widest
If the positive ends in -y, it changes to -ier and -iest. dry sly shy
drier slier /slyer shier /shyer
driest sliest /slyest shiest /shyest
Most two-syllable adjectives, especially those ending in -able, -ful, -ing, -ish, -ive, -less and -ous, take MORE / (LESS) in the comparative and MOST / (LEAST) in the superlative. readable hopeful charming foolish active
more readable more hopeful more charming more foolish more active
most readable most hopeful most charming most foolish most active
Other two-syllable adjectives follow the -er / -est pattern as the one-syllable adjectives do. clever simple happy friendly
cleverer simpler happier friendlier
cleverest simplest happiest friendliest
15
Lesson 1 However, some two-syllable adjectives can take EITHER -er / -est OR more / most: common; stupid; pleasant; handsome; polite; gentle e.g. Your servant was stupider than I thought. Your servant was more stupid than I thought.
Irregular Comparison The following Adjectives are exceptions: good bad little much many far
better worse less, lesser more more farther/further
sENTENCE WRITING
We use ‘as...as’ with the positive degree. John is as fat as Jack. Mary is not as fat as John. We use ‘than’ with the comparative degree. John is fatter than Mary. This dress is more beautiful than that dress. ‘The’ is used with the superlative degree. John is the fattest of the three boys. Mary is the most beautiful girl in the class. This is the fastest car on the running track.
16
best worst least most most farthest/furthest
:
Note
‘MOST’ can be used without ‘the’ to mean ‘very’. E.g. -The movie was most interesting.
-People opposed the bill most strongly.
Lesson 1
To Learn English (1) Clear and correct English makes people easily understand you, and they would immediately decide that you are well educated. As a result, they truly respect you: this brings to your career every chance of success. However, to achieve good English, people need some basic tools for the long, steep climb to the goal. These are determination, patience and effort. To begin with, the meaning of a word varies according to what part of speech it is. Often, a different part of speech of a word carries a different meaning:
Examples: 1) The dog was taken ill. Poverty is an ill.
(adjective - sick) (noun - problem)
2) The children are running about. (adverb - in different directions) The report is about the weather. (preposition - concerning) The movie is about to start. (adjective - soon going)
3) To understand a clause, we first find out its verb and next its subject/object.
Tokyo office costs cost a lot of money. (‘Cost’ is a transitive verb, meaning ‘need’) (‘Costs’ is a plural noun, meaning ‘expenses’, subject of the transitive verb ‘cost’.) Bush ducks shoe throw in Iraq. (‘Ducks’ is a transitive verb, meaning ‘avoids’.) (‘Throw’ is a noun, object of ‘ducks’.) (‘Shoe’ is a noun, used as an adjective to qualify ‘throw’.)
So English is a language of definition (to read according to rules).
Remarks: Was taken ill (idiomatic expression) = fell ill ‘Bush ducks shoe throw in Iraq’ is newspaper English, which usually omits the articles (a,an,the). Traditional English is ‘Bush ducks a shoe throw in Iraq.’ (‘Throw’ is a countable noun, which requires an article.)
17
Lesson 2
Lesson 2
Verbs
A VERB tells us something about a person or thing and is the most important word in a sentence. When we write, we first have some nouns in our mind, such as ‘key’ and ‘door’. (Please refer back to page 1.) Then we look for a suitable verb ‘opens’ to match the nouns like this:
Subject
Verb
A key
opens
(noun)
Object (noun)
a door.
* ‘Key’ and ‘door’ are countable concrete nouns, which need an article ‘a’.
Here the noun ‘key’ governs the verb ‘opens’. It is subject (the action doer) of the verb.
The second noun ‘door’ (the action receiver) is the object governed by the verb ‘opens’.
Transitive verb
The verb ‘opens’ is a transitive verb because it passes the action from the action doer ‘key’ (subject) to the action receiver ‘door’ (object). A transitive verb must take an object.
18
Lesson 2
Intransitive verb Subject The world
Verb
laughs.
The action verb ‘laughs’ stops with the action doer ‘world’ (subject). There is no action receiver (object).
Why is it first and foremost to classify a verb? The answer is easily seen in the following examples: intr. v.
1. He stopped to smoke. (= He walked no farther and stood there and smoked.) tran. v.
2. He stopped smoking. (= He gave up smoking and smoked no more.) In 1, the intransitive 'stopped' ends with the subject 'he', and 'to smoke' tells us why he stopped. (Please see page 98.) In 2, the transitive 'stopped' means 'quitted' and takes the noun (gerund) 'smoking' as its object. (Please see page 90 for more explanations of gerunds.)
mples:
xa More E
intr. v.
She turned, and dropped the ball. (= She went round and dropped the ball.) tran. v.
She turned and dropped the ball. (= She turned the ball and dropped it.)
Linking verb
(Please see page 100.)
The linking verb ‘be’ (am, is, are, was, were, been, being, be) is used most frequently. It links a noun or an adjective with the subject to make the meaning of a sentence complete.
Subject Complement John is a doctor. (noun) (linking v.) (noun) Subject Complement John is happy. (noun) (linking v.) (adjective)
19
Lesson 2
Complements
Both the noun ‘doctor’ and the adjective ‘happy’ are complements of ‘is’. There are many other linking verbs, such as seem, appear, become, grow, turn, prove, look, come, go, feel, get, etc. They take a noun or an adjective as their complements, NOT as objects.
mple:
a For Ex
n.
link. v.
adj.
The weather looks fine.
The weather looks fine. We can understand the sentence in two ways: • The adjective ‘fine’ is complement of the linking verb ‘looks’. • The adjective ‘fine’ qualifies the noun ‘weather’.
Noun or adjective?
If we put a noun instead of an adjective after a linking verb, we say the two nouns refer to the same person or thing. John becomes a teacher. (John = a teacher ) So the following sentence is incorrect. John is happiness. ‘John’ is a man, and ‘happiness’ is an abstract noun. They are different things. Here we must use the adjective form ‘happy’ instead.
20
John is happy. ( = happy John / a happy man)
Lesson 2 Tips A verb in different types suggests different meanings: Play The children are playing. n. (obj)
(intransitive – are having fun)
The wife played the violin badly. n.
adj.
(transitive – performed)
The husband played deaf. (linking – pretended)
The following are the most frequently used sentence patterns: (1) SV (subject + intransitive verb / transitive verb in the passive voice) My dog barked. A rat was caught. (2) SVO (subject + transitive verb + object) The dog killed the rat. (concrete noun) The rat stole some food. (mass noun) (3) SVC (subject + linking verb + complement) The food was cheese. (mass noun) The cheese smelt good. (adjective) (4) SVOC (Please see page 105.) (subject + transitive verb + object + complement) I called the dog a good boy. (concrete noun) The dog made me happy. (adjective) (5) SVOO (subject + transitive verb + object + object) I gave the dog some cookies. Tom handed Susan a present.
21
Lesson 2 A.
Please find out the sentence pattern of each of the following sentences.
Example: The tree has been blown away. ( 1 ) SV 1. Someone is coming. 2. She is the champion. 3. Tiffany feels bad. 4. All of the witnesses are being investigated. 5. Tom found his wallet. 6. We showed the official our passports. 7. I found Tom sleepy.
B.
The Goose That Laid the Golden Eggs
In paragraph 1, please write ‘I’ for ‘intransitive verb’, ‘T’ for ‘transitive verb’ and ‘L’ for ‘linking verb’. The first one has been done for you. PARAGRAPH 1 (I) The night fell. A farmer came to his goose’s nest. He found a heavy, yellow egg there. He felt strange, ‘Someone has played a trick on me.’ Still, he took it home but was very happy because the egg was a lump of gold.
22
Lesson 2 In paragraph 2, try to look for a noun/pronoun in the FOUR positions: ( 1 ) before a verb, ( 2 ) after a transitive verb, ( 3 ) after a linking verb, ( 4 ) after a preposition. The 1st sentence has been done for you. PARAGRAPH 2 (1) (2) (4) (4) The farmer sold the egg for a handsome sum of money. Every evening the goose laid an egg of gold, and very soon he became a rich man. In paragraph 3, try to write ‘subject’ for the noun/pronoun before a verb, ‘object’ after a transitive verb OR a preposition, and ‘complement’ after a linking verb. PARAGRAPH 3 subj. subj. compl. subj. As the farmer grew rich, he turned greedy man. But he didn’t want to get only one egg everyday. He said, “ I’d better cut the goose open to take all the eggs out of her at one time.” So he cut open the goose but found nothing. Now he became an unhappy man. (N.B. There is no ‘a’ before ‘greedy man’. Please see ‘turn’ on page 104.)
For ONLY, please point out which is a noun and which is a verb in the following sentence.
Shaw saw saws saw saws.
See page 95 for tips.
23
Lesson 2
TRANSITIVE VERBS
NOUNS discipline custom world peace living standard a person’s outlook historic buildings (prevent decay) food (prevent decay)
preserve
conserve
electricity, water, etc. (not to waste) land, forest or other natural resources (prevent them from damage) historic buildings (prevent decay) food (prevent waste)
Note: Both historic buildings and food can be governed by either preserve or conserve.
Here we can see how an object noun can be governed by several transitive verbs and qualified by several adjectives. If the noun is uncountable, no article is needed. VERBS keep maintain impose lack
24
ADJECTIVES strict, lax tough proper normal
NOUN discipline (uncountable)
Lesson 2 Likewise, a transitive verb can also govern a few different nouns, and each noun can be qualified by a few adjectives, too. If the noun is countable, an article is needed.
express
express a
main, major, great grave, deep little genuine public growing
sincere deepest humble public profound
concern
(uncountable)
apology
(countable)
Verbs, adjectives and nouns are 3 in 1. And we should not study an English word singly. Verb + (a/ an/ the/ no article) + adjective + noun is a core pattern of sentence-writing. To read more and to consult dictionaries often will help (to) pave the way to success.
C. Example:
Please say what part of speech each word in italics is in the following sentences. int. v. adj. I spring over the garden gate to pick some spring flowers.
1. Bath the little dog in this bath, and wrap it up with a bath towel. 2. Iron this shirt with an electric iron on this iron table made of iron from the USA. 3. Water this plant with water from these water bottles.
25
Lesson 2
Summary
(At this first stage, it is good enough to understand the following.)
To think this way
Word(s) (before a verb)
Word(s) (after a verb / prep.)
Word(s) (after a linking verb)
=
Subject
=
=
Object
Noun =(after a verb / prep.)
=
Complement
Noun
(before a verb)
= Noun / Adjective (after a linking verb)
To think the other way
(See P.107.)
Here is a little test for OUTSTANDING learners. Please find out the subjects and objects in the following sentences: EXAMPLES: A wolf walking by the mountain’s side in the evening saw his own shadow. wolf subject of the transitive verb ‘saw’. side object of the preposition ‘by’. evening object of the preposition ‘in’. shadow object of the transitive verb ‘saw’.
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1. A frog braver than the rest putting his head above the water cried to the boys loudly. 2. Near an apple tree grew a rose bush. (Please refer to P.294.)
Lesson 2 Suffixes Different suffixes can help us easily understand whether a word is a noun, verb or adjective and hence their meanings. (Please try to memorize them.)
Of Nouns (1)
Denoting mainly the agent or doer of a thing. n)
-ar (-er, -eer, -ier, -ary)
-ain (-an, -en, -o
scho lar, teac her, engin eer,
ca pt ai n, mu sic ian , cit ize n, su rg eo n.
finan cier, miss iona ry.
-ate (-ee, -ey, -y
-er (-ar, -or, -yer)
)
ad vo ca te , em ploye e,
pai nte r, beg gar , sai lor , em plo yer .
at to rn ey , com pa ny . (2)
Denoting state, action, result of an action.
excellence, innocence.
bondage .
opi nio n.
fr ien ds hip , pa rt ne rs hip , ha rds hip .
swe etn ess , bol dne ss.
dif ficu lty , bea uty , cru elt y.
exe rcis e.
-ment
-ship
dar kne ss, goo dne ss,
-ty
ser vice, pra cti ce,
he alt h, gr ow th , st re ng th .
act ion , uni on ,
-ness
-ice (-ise)
-th
-ion
fan cy , acc ura cy , ba nk ru ptc y
fre edo m, wis dom , kin gdo m.
brilliance , assistan ce,
marriage , leakage,
-cy
-dom
-ance (-ence)
-age
punis hme nt, judgm ent, impr ovem ent.
-ure
-ling
ple asu re, pict ure ,
duck ling, darli ng,
victo ry, stor y,
tre asu re.
nest ling.
mise ry.
-y
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Lesson 2 Suffixes
Of Adjective -al
na tio na l, us ua l, fin a l, gr ad ua l, leg a l.
-ed having;
gif ted , lea rne d, tale nte d.
-y with the quality of;
we alt hy , hea lth y,
gre edy nee dy, dirt y. ble)
-lent
excelle nt , vio len t, tur bul en t.
act ive , att ent ive ,
ab le , po ss ib le , . lau gh ab le , se ns ib le
att rac tiv e.
-ish somewhat like;
-less free from, without;
hope ful, joyf ul, beau tifu l, fruit ful.
fam ilia r, sim ila r, re gu lar .
ne ces sa ry , ordin ar y, contr ar y.
-ive
-ble (-ible, -a
-ful full of;
-ar
-ary
fea rle ss, sha me les s, ho pel ess , sen sel ess .
girlis h, fooli sh, wom anis h.
-ous
-en made of;
-ate
for tun at e, obs tin at e,
woo den, golde n, woo len, eart hen .
tem per at e.
dan ger ou s, cop iou s, ted iou s.
Of Verb -ish (transitive)
publi sh, puni sh, bani sh.
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-fy (transitive)
sim pli fy , pu rif y, te rri fy , ve rif y.
-se (transitive) to make;
cleanse, rinse, realise.
-en (transitive) causative, forming;
weak en, sweeten, hard en, wide n, stre ngth en.
Lesson 2
To Learn English (2) An English word must be learned together with other words at the same time. This word-matching, or word-combining is called collocation. Such a close connection among words spreads through the whole language. It includes proverbs, idioms, phrasal verbs, and many fixed expressions.
Examples:
No news is good news. (Proverb) Dancing is not my cup of tea. (Idiom) We ran out of money after our holidays. (Phrasal verb) The story is about love at first sight. (Fixed expression)
There are many types of matching as the following sentence shows.
:Adverb
:Adjective
AA very has recently veryreasonably reasonably large large company company have recently bought bought 50,000 50,000 shares shares wholly wholly through through aa leading leading stockbroker. stockbroker. subject
object
tran. v.
prep.
object
Tips to learn collocations: Adverb very quite utterly fairly
reasonably (adverb)
Adverb reasonably very large rather (adjective) quite
Adverb recently cheaply quickly
Adjective
Adverb
Adjective
50,000 large 20%
wholly partly completely
a leading large
shares (noun)
through (prep.)
Download more chapters at: http://englishfortheeagerlearners.blogspot.hk/
1. Through all kinds of reading materials. 2. With dictionaries.
buy (verb)
stockbroker (noun)
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